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New Year Means New Laws On Indiana's Books

(UNDATED) - Most new state laws take effect at the start of the fiscal year in July, but there are exceptions. Portions of eight laws passed last year took effect on Tuesday.

The list includes a requirement that businesses pay their sales and withholding taxes online.

New businesses have had to file online since 2009. Indiana Retail Council president Grant Monahan says existing stores have had plenty of time to make the transition.

The new year inaugurates a new four-year cycle for property reassessment. Assessors are to draft a plan breaking their territory into four equal pieces. By 2015, they'll begin assessing a quarter of those parcels each year on a rotating basis.

Three state boards which consider environmental permits have been abolished and replaced by a single Environmental Rules Board. And an independent commission which makes recommendations on pay raises for legislators and state officeholders has been reestablished.

The panel was formed in 2004, but no one has suggested a pay hike for years. Because the panel hasn't met, it was accidentally eliminated in 2011 in a purge of dormant state boards.

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